'STREAMLINE SELECTION OF DELEGATES IN ASHANTI' (Page 14)

Story: Kwame Asare Boadu, Kumasi

A MEMBER of the Vice President’s campaign team, Mr George Ayisi-Boateng, has denied media reports linking him to the new party allegedly formed out of the NPP the Reform Patriotic Party in Kumasi.
He told the Daily Graphic in an interview that “ I am nowhere near that party and I do not know of the members or where they meet”.
“ I only hear of Kwabena Agyei aka Bambata, the leader of that party, but for close to two years now I have never met him”, he said.
Mr Ayisi-Boateng, who is a founding member of the NPP, said the last time he met Mr Adjei was at the Ashanti Regional NPP conference some two years ago where Adjei vied for the regional secretary position while he(Boateng) went for the regional chairmanship position but both of them were defeated.
“I can’t even remember the last time that we spoke on phone”, Mr Ayisi-Boateng stressed, and that the allegation linking him to the party was to create disaffection in the NPP and particularly the vice president’s campaign team.
He maintained that his resolve to support Alhaji Aliu Mahama to become the next president was irrevocable. “ In any case all Ghanaians know that I am for Aliu and no one else”.
Mr Ayisi-Boateng said Alhaji Aliu was on his way to becoming the NPP presidential candidate and eventually the next President of Ghana because the party had seen him as the most marketable candidate for the NPP.
He described the Vice-president as “ all in unity” and expressed the confidence that the delegates who constituted the kingmakers for the December congress would vote for him.
Mr Ayisi-Boateng stated that so far the campaign had been very encouraging as all pointed to a victory for the Vice-president.
He said Alhaji Mahama had proved to be a great team player, having supported President Kufuor to achieve a lot for the nation over the approximately seven years administration of the NPP.
Mr Ayisi-Boateng said with the Vice-president as the flag bearer of the NPP, “we will be selling an already-made product”.
He said, it was time that “we reward our heroes while they live and Aliu’s selflessness, loyalty and commitment to the government and mother Ghana should be appreciated by all”.
“We should see him as the centre piece for total unity for the nation”, he added.